Convertible dinner wagon and the like



March 8, 1938. E. s. LOUIS 2,110,466

CONVERTIBLE DINNER WAGON AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 28, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet1 mvsH-roa EDWRRD RN/5M5 LOUIS BY M M HIS ATTORNEYS March 8, 1938. E s,ows 2,110,466

CONVERTIBLE DINNER WAGON AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 28, 1937 5 Sheets-Sheet2 V ms ATTORNEYS March 1938. 5 ou s 2,110,466

CONVERTIBLE DINNER WAGON AND THE LIKE TI j a i I NVENTOR EDWARDSTAN/51.05 Lou/s H ES ATTORNEYS Patented Mar. 8, 1938 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFIQE Edward Stanislas Louis, London, England, as-

signor to Besway Manufacturing Company Limited, Stratford, London,England, a British company Application January 28, 1937, Serial No.122,756

In Great Britain February 13, 1936 6 Claims.

This invention relates to convertible dinner or tea wagons and likeportable apparatus of the type comprising a rigid supporting stand(whereof the legs are usually equipped with castors) and mounted thereona plurality of leaves which are interconnected by parallel-motion linksin such manner that, by swinging movement of the links in relation tothe stand, the leaves may be brought from a position (hereinafterreferred to as the tier position) one vertically above another into aposition (hereinafter referred to as the table position) in which theylie edge to edge alongside one another and constitute a singlesubstantially flat shelf or table.

One object of this invention is to provide, in apparatus of the abovetype, a parallel-motion linkage so arranged and so articulated to thesupporting stand that in the tier position of the leaves the top of theuppermost leaf will be substantially flush with the top of the stand,while in the table position the upper surfaces of both leaves will besubstantially flush with the top of the stand.

A feature of the invention resides in the provision of a parallel-motionlinkage (whereby each leaf is constrained to move parallel to itselfwhen the leaves are brought from the tier to the table position and vicevers-a) which has its links pivotally connected to the supporting standat points which are offset laterally from lines joining the pivotalconnections between the links and the leaves.

Another feature of the invention consists in so shaping and arrangingthe individual links of the parallel-motion linkage that in the tierposition the links will lie alongside the corner posts of the supportingstand or associated parts of it, and will thereby be more or lessconcealed from view.

An example according to the invention will now be described withreference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure l is a perspective view of a dinner or tea wagon with the leavesin the tier position;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the wagon with the leaves in the tableposition;

Figure 3 is an end view of the wagon with the corner posts andcross-piece at that end removed to show the linkage, the leaves being inthe tier position;

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 with the leaves in the tableposition; and

Figure 5 is a view of the locking means for the leaves.

The supporting stand, which is in the form of an open rectangular frame,comprises four corner posts 2 interconnected near their lower ends byrigid cross pieces 3. At each end of the stand the adjacent corner postsare in addition interconnected at their upper extremities by crosspieces of substantial depth 4, but at the sides of the stand there is nointerconnection between the upper ends of the posts. The lower ends ofthe corner posts are furnished with castor wheels 5 so that when theleaf mechanism is in the tier position the apparatus may be used as atea or dinner wagon for transporting purposes.

The adjustable leaf mechanism comprises two rectangular leaves-6, 1,each of approximately the same width and length as the correspondingcross sectional dimensions of the stand. The leaves are coupled togetherby two pairs of parallel motion links disposed at opposite endsrespectively of the leaves. The links are arranged and articulated tothe stand in the following manner.

One link of each pair is a substantially straight link 8 pivotallyconnected at 9 and IE to the two leaves near the corners thereof, and inthe tier position the straight links lie, as to the whole of theirlength, alongside the corresponding corner posts of the stand as shownin Figure 3. The straight links are not connected directly to the standbut are furnished with short arms H which extend at right-angles to thelength of the links in a direction towards the opposite corners of theleaves, and at their extremities 33 are pivotally connected to the crosspieces 4 of substantial depth which interconnect the corner posts of thestand at opposite ends of it respectively. It will be appreciated thatthe short arms of the straight links are located close to correspondingends of the links, i. e. those ends which will be uppermost in the tierposition of the apparatus. A pair of stiff spiral springs l2 areprovided one at each end of the frame, one end of each spring beingsecured to the fixed pivot pin on which the corresponding arm H isrotatable and the other end of the spring being secured to a pin I3 onthe arm. The springs are so arranged as to be stressed when the leavesare in the tier position and the purpose of the springs is to assistinitially in the movement of the leaves from that position.

The other link of each pair (i. e. the link l4, hereinafter referred toas the cranked link) is pivot-ally connected at its opposite ends to thetwo leaves at points which are spaced apart inwardly from thecorresponding corners of the leaves. Each cranked link is pivotallyconnected at I5to the adjacent corner post of the stand.

margins of the stand and leaves. position the two links at each end ofthe stand The line joining the pivotal connections between the crankedlink and the two leaves is parallel to the straight link, and thepivotal connection between the cranked link and the stand is offsetlaterally of this line in the same direction as the short arm I I on thestraight link 8. The cranked link is in two parts rigidly connectedtogether or integrally formed, and comprising as to one part a smallL-shaped piece l6, whereof the end' of one limb is pivotally connectedat I! to the leaf which will be uppermost in the tier position, and theend of the other limb is pivotally connected to the adjacent corner postof the stand at I5, and as to the other part a long L-shaped piecehaving a long and a short limb, with the end of the long limb integralwith or attached to the limb of the small L-shaped piece articulated tothe stand, and with the end of the short limb pivotally connected to themargin of the leaf at 3. The arrangement of the cranked leaf is suchthat in the tier position, the long limb of the long L-shaped piece willlie alongside the adjacent corner post of the stand, while itsshort limbwill lie alongside the edge of the lowermost leaf, and in the case ofthe small L-shaped piece one limb will extend alongside the cross pieceat the upper end of the stand while the other limb will extend upwardlyto its pivotal connection with the edge of the leaf. The straight andthe cranked links are functionally equivalent, the special form of thecranked link being adopted in order to ensure that in the two positionof the apparatus, no

part of the linkage will stand proud of the In the table lie alongsideeach other and are hidden from viewby the cross pieces 4 of substantialdepth which interconnect the corner posts. The links are attached tothe'leaves and framesat their pivotal connectionsby metal plates i9, 20and 2|.

The plates l9 and 2| are screwed to the upper and lower leavesrespectively and the plates 20 are screwed to the cross pieces 4.

Any convenient device may be provided for locking the leaves in theirtwo positions of adjustment. In the example shown in Figure the lockingmechanism comprises a bar 22 (whereof one end is accessiblev formanipulation at one side of the lower leaf and provided with a knob 28)which extends under the lower leaf at right-angles. to its length and isinterconnected by toggle levers 23 with rods 24 which extend lengthwiseof the leaf, and at their extremities are movable through apertures inthe marginal portions of the leaf into engagement withalternate holes inthe. links. In the tier position the locking rods are adapted to engagewith holes 25 in the cranked links while in the table position theyengage with holes 26 inthe straight links.

. Assuming the apparatus to be in the tier position with-the top of theuppermost leaf flush with the top of the stand, it will be understoodthat when the leaves are swung into the table position, the upper leafmoves through a com-' paratively small arc, first rising above the standand then dropping again into the flush position, while the lower leafmoves through a comparatively large are, rising throughout, and, it willfurther be understood that during this operation, and also when theleaves are reset to the tier position, each leaf is constrained to moveparallel to itself. The foregoing result is obtained by arranging thatthe distances between the top most leaf 1 and the pivotal connectionsI5, 38 between the links and the stand (considering the leaves in thetier position shown in Figure 3) are equal to the distances throughwhich these pivotal connections are offset from lines joining thepivotal connectionsbetween the links and the leaves. Further, in orderto ensure that in the table position the two leaves will be symmetricalin relation to the stand, the distance aforesaid is made substantiallyequal to one quarter of the width of each leaf.

I claim:

1. A convertible dinner or tea wagon or like portable apparatuscomprising in combination a rigid supporting stand, a plurality ofleaves, and

a parallel-motion linkage interconnecting the leaves and itselfpivotally articulated to the stand to provide of swinging movement ofthe leaves between a tier position with one leaf vertically aboveanother into a table position with the leaves lying edge to edgealongside one another, the linkage aforesaid comprising links which arepivotally connected to the leaves and are pivotally articulated to thestand at points offset from lines joining the pivotal connectionsbetween the links and the leaves. 1

2. A convertible dinner or tea wagon or like portable apparatuscomprising in combination a rigid supporting stand formed by cornerposts and interconnecting cross bars, a plurality of leaves, and aparallel-motion linkage interconnecting the leaves and itself pivotallyarticulated to the stand to provide of swinging movement of the leavesbetween a tier position with one leaf vertically above another intoatable position with the leaves lying edge to edge alongside oneanother, the linkage aforesaid comprising links which are pivotallyconnected to the leaves and are pivotally articulated to the stand atpoints offset from lines joining the pivotal connections between thelinks and the leaves, and the links being so shaped and arranged that inthe tier position they will extend, as regards a substantial portion oftheir length, alongside the corner posts of the supporting stand.

3. The convertible dinner or tea wagon or like portable apparatusclaimed in claim 1 combined with a toggle lever locking device operableto lock the leaves in either thetier or the table position.

4.'A convertible dinner or tea wagon or like portable apparatuscomprising in combination a rigid supporting stand, a plurality ofleaves, and a parallel-motion linkage interconnecting the leaves anditself pivotally articulated to the the offset being equal to thevertical distance between the topmost leaf, in the tier position, and

.the pivotal connections between the links and the stand.

5. A convertible dinner or tea wagon or like portable apparatuscomprising in combination a rigid supporting stand, two similar leavesof equal width, 2. parallel-motion linkage interconnecting .the leavesand'itself pivotallylarticulated to the stand to provide of swingingmovement of the leaves between a-tier position with one leaf verti- 1Ill cally above another into a table position with the leaves lying edgeto edge alongside one another, the linkage aforesaid comprising linkswhich are pivotally connected to the leaves and are pivotallyarticulated to the stand at points offset from lines joining the pivotalconnections between the links and the leaves, the extent of the offsetbeing equal to the vertical distance between the topmost leaf, in thetier position, and the pivotal connections between the links and thestand, and each being approximately one quarter of the width of a leaf.

6. A convertible dinner or tea wagon or like portable apparatus,comprising in combination a rigid supporting stand formed by four cornerposts and inter-connecting cross bars, two similar leaves, aparallel-motion linkage comprising two pairs of parallel links pivotallyconnected to the stand at opposite ends thereof respectively andpivotally connected to the edges of the leaves, each link beingpivotally articulated to the stand at a point offset from the linejoining the pivotal 10 connections between the link and the leaves.

EDWARD STANISLAS LOUIS.

